Japanese-English Translation: An Advanced Guide

by Judy Wakabayashi

Overview

This volume is a textbook for aspiring translators of Japanese into English, as well as a reference work for professional Japanese-English translators and for translator educators. Underpinned by sound theoretical principles, it provides a solid foundation in the practice of Japanese-English translation, then extends this to more advanced levels. Features include:

• 13 thematic chapters, with subsections that explore common pitfalls and challenges facing Japanese-English translators and the pros and cons of different procedures
• exercises after many of these subsections
• abundant examples drawn from a variety of text types and genres and translated by many different translators

This is an essential resource for postgraduate students of Japanese-English translation and Japanese language, professional Japanese-English translators and translator educators. It will also be of use and interest to advanced undergraduates studying Japanese.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367863333
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/07/2020
Pages:	270
Product dimensions:	6.88(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

About the Author

Judy Wakabayashi is Professor of Japanese Translation at Kent State University, Ohio. With experience as an in-house and freelance translator, she has taught Japanese-English translation to postgraduate students in Australia and the United States for over three decades. She has co-edited four books on translation--Asian Translation Traditions (2005), Decentering Translation Studies: India and Beyond (2009), Translation and Translation Studies in the Japanese Context (2012) and Translating and Interpreting in Korean Contexts: Engaging with Asian and Western Others (2019)--and translated seven books.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

1 Words 1

Beyond dictionaries 1

Semantic mismatch and culture-specific items 5

Abstract nouns 12

Affixes 13

Neologisms 16

Conclusion 17

2 Word groups and figurative language 21

Lexical collocations 21

Multi-character and abbreviated compounds 22

Doublets 23

Proverbs 24

Idioms 27

Metaphors and similes 29

Metonymy and synecdoche 34

Hyperbole 35

Allusions 35

Conclusion 38

3 Names 40

Personal names 40

Terms of address 46

Organisation names and job titles 51

Names of laws and products 52

Eponyms 53

Place names and addresses 53

Initialisms, acronyms and abbreviations 55

Conclusion 56

4 Numbers 57

Numeric expressions 57

Inclusive vs. non-inclusive expressions 58

Approximate and exact expressions 59

Currency amounts 61

Units of measurement 61

Ordinal constructions, $$$ and fractions 62

Time expressions 63

Alphanumeric combinations 66

Tables and phone numbers 67

Conclusion 68

5 Technicalities 70

Punctuation and symbols 70

Lists 81

Orthographical and typographical issues 81

Conclusion 84

6 Recurring grammatical issues 86

Verb orientation vs. noun orientation 86

Verb-based pseudo-topics 87

Non-verbal pseudo-topics 90

Topicalisation 91

Situation focus 92

Process orientation 94

Long sentences 95

Parsing 96

Word order 97

Passive constructions 100

Aspect and tense 101

Grammatical ambiguity 103

Non-specification 105

Conclusion 106

7 Rhetorical hedging and indirectness 108

Verbosity 108

Lexical ambiguity 110

Euphemisms 110

Jargon 112

Indirect expressions 115

Requests 116

Indirect forms of advice, command and prohibition 117

Phatic language 118

Sentence-final expressions 120

Self-effacing and self-deprecatory expressions 122

Rhetorical questions 122

The ubiquitous $$$ and all that jazz 124

Conclusion 126

8 Register, tone, emphasis, repetition and parallelism 129

Register 129

Tone and colour 131

Emphatic devices 134

Repetition 140

Parallelism 142

Conclusion 143

9 The spoken word 145

Speech representation 145

Quotations 147

Dialogue 148

Interactional particles 153

Keigo 154

Formulaic expressions 157

Conclusion 160

10 Non-standard varieties of language 161

Dialect 161

Male and female speech 167

Idiolect 168

Slang and swearing 169

Insults 171

Classical and literary forms 172

Archaic language 175

Conclusion 177

11 Languages interacting 178

Gairaigo and wasei eigo 178

False friends 180

Foreign expressions in Japanese texts 181

Deliberately unorthodox Japanese 184

Metalinguistic references 185

Conclusion 190

12 Translators at play 192

Wordplay 192

Phonological and prosodic effects 198

Mimetics 201

Slogans, catchphrases and mottos 206

Titles, headings and headlines 209

Conclusion 211

13 Discourse-level issues 213

Cohesive devices 214

Sentence connectives 215

Organisation within paragraphs 217

Paragraph breaks 218

Discourse organisation 219

Introductions 224

Conclusions 226

References 229

Japanese source texts and English translations 239

Credits 242

Index 246